Australian enviro-tech startup, Samsara Eco, which has raised $54 million in a Series A funding to scale infinite recycling, plans to launch its first enzymatically-recycled packaging in Woolworths stores next year.
The new capital injection comes as Samsara Eco also sets its sights on building its first plastic recycling facility later this year ahead of full-scale production in 2023.
Samsara launched last year in partnership with researchers at Australian National University (ANU) and CSIRO-founded Main Sequence, having developed a new way to infinitely recycle plastic to help end the plastic pollution crisis. The technology uses enzymes to break plastic down to its core building blocks, regardless of colour and state, which can then be used to recreate brand new, virgin-quality plastic, again and again.
Among the new investors supporting Samsara’s mission to ensure no new plastic is made from fossil fuels again are Breakthrough Victoria, Temasek, Assembly Climate Capital, DCVC and INP Capital. Other co-investors in the round include founding and returning investors; deep tech fund Main Sequence, Woolworths Group’s W23 and Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) Innovation Fund, managed by Virescent Ventures.
Samsara has been working alongside its first partner, Woolworths Group, to bring the potential of infinite recycling to supermarket shelves, and plans to introduce the first enzymatically recycled packaging in Woolworths stores next year, which it says will serve as a key milestone for its roadmap to recycling 1.5M tonnes of plastic per annum by 2030.
According to Samsara, the capital round is being used to grow its engineering team, develop its library of plastic-eating enzymes and fund its first commercial facility which will facilitate the infinite recycling of 20,000 tonnes of plastic from 2024. It is also looking into expanding its operations into Europe and North America.
“Plastic is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century and provides enormous utility because of its durability, flexibility and strength. Yet, plastic is an environmental disaster, with almost every piece of the 9 billion tonnes ever made still on the planet,” said Paul Riley, CEO and founder of Samsara.
“Samsara serves a solution to the problem. Instead of mining for fossil fuels to create new plastic or relying on current recycling methods which result in less than 10 per cent of plastic waste actually being recycled, Samsara takes plastic that already exists to infinitely recycle it,” he added.
“You can’t solve the climate crisis unless you solve the plastics crisis. Unlike other alternative recycling practices, our process is economical, with a low carbon footprint and allows for the effective recycling of challenging plastics including coloured, multi-layered or mixed plastics and textiles. Our technology means we have enough plastic in the world already and with our technology you never need to produce plastic from fossil fuels again,” stated Riley.
Main Sequence Partner, Phil Morle said: “Samsara is a powerful example of how deep tech can be used to solve real world problems. Its breakthrough technology based on science has the potential to end our reliance on fossil fuels for plastic creation, and with it, bring us one step closer to ending the plastic pollution crisis we currently face. These are exactly the type of ideas and startups we want to help grow and scale.
“Around the world, legislators have set increasingly high standards to mandate a move towards plastic waste reduction. Geopolitical and social forces are aligning to put pressure on governments and corporations to tackle the plastics problem, and now technology innovation is serving a solution for effective plastic recycling management,” he added.
“Every minute of the day, the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic ends up in our oceans. By 2050, the volume of plastic by weight will exceed fish in the sea. We’ve had fantastic growth so far, but the plastic problem is growing faster. Access to this funding will enable us to accelerate the capabilities of infinite recycling and scale our technology which breaks down plastics in minutes, not centuries,” concluded Riley.
